Keeping the "Porch Kitty" Warm

We have a "porch kitty" who we have been feeding for about a year.  She mostly stays in our yard or on the porch.  I'm in southeast Texas and it's rarely very cold here, but it is going to be in the 30s and upper 20s at night for the next week or so.  I'm concerned about her staying warm outside because she's such a petite little girl.  She will not come inside our house (she can't tolerate our inside cats); sometimes we can coax her into the garage, but that is rare.

My husband built her a really nice little shelter and lined it with 1/2" thick foam. We put a fleecy cat bed that's just the size of the shelter in it, and I made her a warming mat by sewing a piece of Mylar space blanket between two pieces of fleece blanket.  The warming mat is tucked into the bottom of her little bed.  I'm wondering if that's enough to keep her warm?  Should we add an electric heating pad of some kind, more insulation, a heat lamp?

If the house is close to an electrical outlet, you can get a pet warming pad (they may have them at Petco or PetSmart).  There is also product called Snuggle Safe - a microwavable disc.  You microwave it for six minutes and it keeps warm for up to 12 hours.  Available at Amazon (and sometimes Petco or PetSmart).

You may also want to check the blankets frequently.  Blankets can wick moisture and will mold.  Straw is better for an outside house.

Thank you for helping her!

Thank you! Any idea where to get straw in small quantities? Looks like I can get a bale at the big home improvement stores, but don't know that I'll ever need that much.

Sounds like you're doing a great job making a wonderful cozy shelter! I'm sure the kitties thank you! If you do want to take it a step further....

We use two different kinds of outdoor cat heating pads (they're specially made to be ok for outdoor use in a shelter - and to only get to about 102 degrees so that the cats won't get burned) ....and I only have 2 different kinds because I bought what was cheaper at the time I bought it. But I like both...and I'll paste the links below. The first one from Cozywinters.com is actually flexible and a little soft, so I prefer it a bit. But the one I got on amazon works well too. The cat heating pads are wonderful and our ferals just love them. We put the heating pads in the bottom in the back of the shelters - leaving a little space so they can move off of them if they get too warm (not likely in December) and then put straw around the edges and up the sides of the shelter. You can also use a Snuggle Safe disc - which you heat up in the microwave and then place inside the provided fleece cover and place it under a thin layer of straw. The big advantage of the discs is that they're alot cheaper than the heating pads, but the disadvantage with the discs is that they need to be rewarmed about every 6-8 hours (depending on the air temperature). I used to use them, but it freaked the kitties out so much every time I went out to get them to heat them up that I felt like I was causing almost more distress than I would if they were cold!

Anyway - links for the above things below (1st is the flexible pad, next is the one from amazon that's a rigid pad, and lastly is the snuggle safe disc). (if the link on the seond one is too long to work - you can just go to amazon and look up "K&H 3093 extreme weather kitty pad")

http://cozywinters.com/shop/kh-1070.html



And as far as the straw - in our area we get it from a local greenhouse. We just call them once a year to make sure they have it - and if they don't they just order it for us from a local farmer. 

Hope this info helps!

And meant to ask (hate it when I hit "submit" before I think!)...where'd you get your mylar pads? I can't find any locally - and hate to spend shipping money at amazon if I can avoid it for just a $5 item

Thanks!

Try a local garden center - we have one that will sell half bales.  Store what you don't use in a large tote.

Thank you both for the info. Kittychick, I bought the space blanket at Academy, in the camping department. It was about $7. I cut it into several prices about 2 feet square. Also got a couple of really cheap fleece blankets at Academy (on sale for $2) and cut them into the same size, sandwiched a piece of the Mylar between two pieces of fleece and sewed them together. I made a couple for my inside kitties too.

We managed to get Betty into the laundry room along with her bed, some food and water, so she will be comfy and warm tonight. We will go looking for straw tomorrow..

Great news that you got her into the laundry room for a brief stay.  I have used straw, blankets, self heating mylar kitty pads, microwave discs and outdoor approved electric heat pads.  The Snuggle safe microwave discs are great.  They are easy to heat and stay warm for awhile.  Yet, you have to reheat them every 8-12 hours depending on how cold it gets.  My ferals love the electric heat pads.  One of my ferals, Shadow is rarely off the heat pad all winter.  He does briefly get down to eat and potty!  My other feral, Stellar is long haired and he gets too warm even when it's very cold.  Yesterday we had about 6 inches of snow.  Right now he is in the back yard under a pine tree laying in the snow.  It is 24 degrees out.